• IE interfaces
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.173-186
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• 2011

In this paper, we evaluate life annuity plans for Korean pre-retired single and married couple participating Korea National Pension (KNP) and find optimal life annuity strategy by using utility-based measurements called AEW (Annuity Equivalent Wealth). Specifically, we extend a previous study to obtain a detailed optimal combination of annuitizing age and wealth in terms of percentage of net wealth at the time of retirement. A nonlinear optimization model is formulated with the objective of maximizing utility on consumption and bequest, and the dynamic programming (DP) technique is used to solve this problem. We find that there exist consistent patterns in optimal combinations of annuitizing age and wealth. Also, for all cases the optimal combination is significantly better than several other combinations. The results indicate that using the optimal approach can be beneficial to practitioners in insurance industry and prospective purchasers of life annuity. We conclude the paper with some discussions and suggestions.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.45-60
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• 2010

This study evaluates life annuity plans based on two different types of measures : financial benefit and utility on consumption. The financial benefit is measured by Money's Worth (MW) ratio and return on annuity. For the measure of utility, an optimization problem is formulated with the objective of maximizing utility on consumption. To solve the optimization model, we use Dynamic Programming (DP) technique. The both types of measures are applied to cases of Korean pre-retirees at age 40 with different accumulation years of annuity (i.e. level of annuity asset at the age of retirement) and different timings of annuitization. Our results generally indicate that the utility based optimization model is superior to the financial measures in terms of providing a better evaluation of an annuity plan due to its capability to consider an individual's financial situation during his/her retirement period. Also, they suggest that the level of annuity asset is an important factor when an individual determines the optimal annuitization timing.